New Console Buyer’s Guide: DS

Nintendo DS

The DS may be the oldest console on this list, yet Nintendo’s dual-screened wonder is still dominating sales charts worldwide. With a new hardware iteration arriving next year and plenty of exciting games on the horizon, it looks as if we will be tapping our touchscreens for a very long time. Below are five of the many amazing games that this console has brought us in the past 4 years.

The Legend of Zelda series comes to the Nintendo DS in a totally unique way! Guide Link around using the DS stylus, use your sailboat to explore the open seas, and solve classic puzzles in exciting ways in this all new Zelda adventure. If you are looking for massive environments and large-scale exploration in a portable game, look no further than Phantom Hourglass.

Mario Kart DS(Nintendo, 2005, Metacritic Score: 91)

While the DS has plenty of great multiplayer titles, none are as feature-packed as Mario Kart DS. The game includes 8-player local wireless play and also lets you hop on Nintendo Wi-Fi connection to battle up to 3 other players online. MK DS also includes a full single-player Championship mode as well as a Mission mode that contains dozens of tricky challenges that will test your karting skills. Add in new weapons, tracks, and characters for you to use and you have one of the best values in gaming.

New Super Mario Bros.(Nintendo, 2006, Metacritic Score: 89)

An adventure that fans had been waiting over a decade for, Mario finally returned to his 2D side-scrolling roots in New Super Mario Bros. Taking the best elements from the NES games, Mario has to run, bounce, swim, and even wall-jump his way through a ton of all-new levels. Awesome power-ups like the Super Mushroom — which makes Mario gigantic and lets you crash through everything in sight — keep everything feeling fresh and make NSMB a fantastic purchase for fans of the iconic plumber.

Prof. Layton merges the Brain Age-style thinking puzzle with the exploration aspects of classic adventure games to form a brilliant, genre-defying title that will test your wits with over 100 mind-bending riddles. Featuring brilliantly-animated cut scenes, a great visual style, and unique gameplay, Prof. Layton is a title that every DS owner should have in their collection, and is easy to recommend as one of the best games of 2008

The World Ends With You(Square-Enix, 2008, Metacritic Score: 89)

A clever mix of RPG and action, The World Ends With You manages to appeal to fans of both genres with its fast-paced stylus-slashing battles and its deeply customizable role-playing upgrade system. You control Neku, a loner who gets stuck in a deadly game that requires him to stay alive and complete missions over a 7 day period. You have to explore the bustling city of Shibuya while making new friends and collecting over 150 upgradable attacks to fight your way to freedom. This one is also one of the best games of 2008 and is an easy recommendation, even if you aren’t into traditional RPGs.